Grain-door for cars.



PATENTED DEG. 3, 1907. T. F. BARTON.`

GRAIN' DOOR POR CARS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 1, 1901n THE Numels PETERS co., WASH N 10N, u.

THOMAS F. BARTON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

GRAIN-Doon FOR CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 3, 1907.

Application led March l, 1907. Serial No. 360,017.

l To all whom it 'may concern:

Be it known Ithat I, THOMAS F. BARTON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, county of Cook, State of Illinois, have invented acertain new and useful Improvement in Grain-Doors for Cars, anddeclarethe following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains tomake and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates in general to railroad cars and more particularlyto grain doors for freight cars.

It is necessary that the doors of grain cars should securely close thedoor openings so as to prevent the grain from leaking out of the cars,and at the same time readily open to permit the cars to be unloaded. Itis therefore desirable that grain doors should be provided with wicketsor panels controlling openings through the doors in order that thepressure of the grain upon the inner surfaces of the doors may berelieved byv permitting the grain to be first discharged through theopenings controlled by the wickets or panels, thereby rendering itpossible to easily open the doors.

The primary object of my invention is to provide a grain car door with amovable wicket or panel located upon the'inner surface of the door so asto be held tightly over the opening which it controls by the pressure ofthe grain.

A further object of my invention is to provide a grain door for carshaving a movable wicket which will be simple in construction,inexpensive in manufacture, and efficient in use.

My invention may be generally described as comprising a verticallymovable wicket located upon the inner surface of a grain door andcontrolling an opening extending substantially the entire width vof thedoor, pairs of guides secured to the outer and inner surfaces of thedoor between which the wicket `reciprocates, a link pivotally connectedat My invention will be more fully described hereinafter with referenceto the accompanying drawing in which the, same is illustrated asembodied in a convenient and practical form, and in which Figure 1 is anelevational view of the insidetof a grain door provided with myimprovement Fig. 2 a sectional view on line 2-2 Fig. l; Fig. 3 ahorizontal sectional view on line 3-3 Fig, 1-; and Fig. 4 a verticalsectional view on line 4-4 Fig. 1.

The same reference characters are used to designate the Same parts inthe several figures of the drawings.

Reference letter A designates a grain door of suitable construction foruse on freight cars. The door is shown as comprising transverse boardsunited by vertical battens A and A3 at sides of the door and a centralvertical batten A2. One of the transverse boards preferably the Secondabove the lower edge of the door, is cut out between the inner edges ofthe battens A and A3 thereby forming an opening a through the door ofsubstantially the width of the door.

B indicates a wicket or panel located upon the inside of the door and ofa height to overlap at its top and bottom the opening a through thedoor. The wicket is of a length slightly less than the distance betweenthe inner edges of the battens A and A3, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and3. The wicket is preferably made of sheet metal. v

C', C2, and Cs designate guides secured to the outer surface of the doorand off-set within the opening a so as to form guiding surfaces for thewicket flush with the inner surface of the door, as clearly shown inFigs. 2 and 4. The guides C', C2, C3 may be conveniently formed of flatstrips of metal bolted at their upper and lower ends to the door.

D and D3 indicate guides secured to the inner surface of the door andspaced apart from the guides C and C3 distances slightly greater thanthe thickness of the wicket so that the wicket will be guided in itsmovements to open and close the opening a. The

Oguides D and D3 are preferably circular in cross-section in order toobviate the danger of grain becoming wedged between the guides and theinner surface of the wicket. D2 indicates an intermediate guide securedto the inner surface of the door and preferably formed of a flat metalstrip having holes d2 therethrough to permit the free passage ofgrainfthroughsuchguideandtherebyprevent the grain from becoming wedgedbetween the guide and the door. The inside guides D, D2, D3 are providedwith perforated ears at their lower ends which overlie and aresecured tothe board of the car door immediately below the opening a, the samebolts which secure the lower ends of the out side guides to the doorbeing preferably extended through the holes in the ears on the lowerends of the inside guides. The upper ends of the inside guides are alsoprovided i with ears having holes through them which preferably alinewith the holes in the upper ends of the outside guides so that the samebolts may be used to secure the upper ends of the pairs of inside andoutside guides to the door.

E designates a bracket secured to the inner surface of the wicketintermediate of its ends by any suitable fastening devices, such forinstance as rivets c. The bracket E is provided with a saddle or yoke E/surrounding the guide D2 and which moves relatively to such guide duringthe raising or lowering of the wicket. The bracket E is provided with astud e which preferably projects inwardly from the saddle E and uponwhich is pivotally supported the lower end of a link F. The lower end'ofthe link F may beconveniently provided with a hole through which lthestud e extends, the link being retained around the stud by a cotter pinf extending through a hole in the stud.

i the leakage of grain.

The upper end of the link F is pivotally connected to the end of acrankarm G fixed upon the inner end .of a stub shaft H. The stub shaft Hextends through the door and is mounted to rock therein. Bearing platesh and h2 are preferably secured to the inner and outer surfacesfof thedoor around the stub shaft to form bearings in which such shaftoscillates. K designates a lever fixed upon the outer end of the stubshaft H and located adjacent the outer surface of the door. The crankarm G and lever K may be conveniently secured to the opposite ends ofthe stub shaft by means of square openings through which the square endsof the stub shaft extend.

The operation of my invention is as follows: The weight of the wicketnormally causes the same to occupy its lowered posie tion in which itclosed the opening a through the door. It will be noticed that the upperand lower edges of the wicket overlie the inner surface of the doorabove and below the opening therethrough thereby securely preventing Theends of the wicket terminate short distances away from the inner edgesofthe battens A and A3 to prevent the wicket binding against the battensduring its movement. The flat outside guides C and C3 serve to close thespaces between the side edges of the wicket and the adjacent edges ofthe battens, thereby preventing When it is desired to relieve the y thedoor in orderv that the door may be opened, lthe lever K is presseddownwardly thereby rocking the stub shaft .H and elevating the wicket Bso that the opening a through the door is .uncovered permitting thegrain to be discharged through such opening andrelieving the pressure ofgrain upon the inner surface of the door. The leverage is such thatcomparatively little power need be exerted ony the lever K to efl'ectthe raising of the wicket. When the inner surface of the door .is notengaged by grain the weight of the wicket automatically returns the sameinto its lowered position to close the opening thereby obviating anydanger of the wicket being opened when the grain is loaded into the car.

From the foregoing description it will be observed that I have inventedan improved grain door for cars comprisinga wicket located upon theinner surface of the door and thereby retained by the pressure of thegrain closely over the opening through the door, the wicket beingprovided with guides for efficiently directing its movements and withmeans for raising the same which can be actuated from the exterior ofthe car.

While I have described more or less precisely the details ofconstruction, I do not wish to be understood. as limiting myselfYthereto, as I contemplate changes in form, the proportion of parts, andthe substitution of equivalents, as circumstances may suggest, or renderexpedient without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desireto secure by Letters Patent is:

1.- The'combination with a car grain door of a vertically movable wicketlocated on the inner surface of the door and controlling an openingtherethrough, pairs o f guides secured to the outer and inner surfacesof said door between which said wicket is adapted to slide, and meansextending to the outside of the car door for raising said Wicket touncover the opening through the door.

2. The combination with a car grain door of a vertically movable wicketlocated on the inner surface of the door and controlling an openingtherethrough, a vertical guide secured to the inner surface of the cardoor between which and the inner surface of the door said wicket isadapted to slide, a saddle secured to the inner surface of said wicketand extending around said vertical guide, a link pivotally connected atits lower end to said saddle, an oscillatory stub shaft extendingthrough said door, a crank arm fixed upon the inner end of said shaft towhich the upper end of said link is pivotally connected, and a leverJiixed to the outer end of said shaft for raising said wicket to uncoverthe opening through said door.

3. The combination with a car grain door of a vertically movable wicketlocated on the inner surface of the door and controlling an openingtherethrough, guides secured to the outer surface of said door and o-setinwardly within said opening to form guide surfaces for said wicketflush with the inner surface of said door, cooperating guides secured tothe inner surface of said door, and means extending to the outside ofthe car door for raising said wicket to uncover the opening through thedoor.

4. The combination with a car grain door of a vertically movable wicketlocated on the inner surface of the door and lcontrolling an openingtherethrough, guides secured to the outer surface of said door andoif-set inwardly within said opening to form guide surfaces for saidwicket iiush with the inner surface of said door, coperating guidessecured to the inner surface of said door, a saddle secured to the innersurface of said wicket extending over the central inner guide, a linkpivotally connected at its lower end to said saddle, an oscillatory stubshaft extending through said door, a crank arm fixed upon the inner endof said shaft to which the upper end of said link is pivotally connectedand` a lever fixed to the outer end of said shaft for raising saidwicket to uncover the opening of said door.

In testimony whereof, I sign this specification in the presence of twowitnesses.

THOMAS F. BARTON.

Witnesses:

GEO. L. WILKINSON,

RUBY NASH.

